Nation State Dbq

During the 18th Century, anger against the French king, King Louis XVI, turned into a very violent revolution, as the French people attempted to defend their country against anyone who they saw as being for the king and against the revolution. This idea of nationalism would spread across all of Europe, and would eventually lead to the idea that each nationality should have its own nation. The modern idea of a nation-state is based on many arguments. Some examples are that a nation-state should consist of people with a common nationality, and the people should be willing to protect the state. A nation state also needs a strong economy to function properly.
A nation-state should consist of people with a common nationality. In Johann Gottfried

Germany, at the time, was only a group of states held together by the incredibly weak Holy Roman Emperor. Because Herder was German, he probably witnessed the consequences of the weak and decentralized Holy Roman Empire which is why he believes that nation-states should consist of one united nationality Herder’s document was most likely influenced by the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, a philosophe from the Enlightenment. Rousseau believed that the state of nature was very peaceful. Men in the state of nature lived very happy lives and treated each other kindly; however, when men invented government and society, they became corrupt and morally poor. In the beginning of Herder’s document, he claims that because “nature brings forth families” which share genetic and cultural similarities, the state should also consist of people who share the same culture and ethnicity (DOC 1). His argument claims that being closer to the state of nature is better, just like Rousseau. The argument that a nation state should contain people with a common nationality can also be seen in Thomas Davis in Ireland. Unlike Herder, who wanted the Germans from many different states to unite, Davis wanted the two states of England and Ireland to be seperated, for they were two different

George Friedrich List in his National System of Political Economy states that “[t]he civilization, political education and power of the nations, depend chiefly on their economical condition and reciprocally; the more advanced their economy, the more civilized and powerful will be the nation” (DOC 4). List probably witnessed this in his own country Germany. The Prussians had set up a commons union called the Zollverein in 1834, six years before List wrote this passage. The Zollverein brought great prosperity to all of the German states, and would eventually cause them to look up to Prussia to unite Germany into a single country. The importance of a good economy can also be seen in France. In France, workers complained about finding “it impossible to earn a livelihood” because “[f]or fifteen years, ten thousand foreign workers have arrived to bring misery to trade” (DOC 5). Because of the increase in foreigners and other agricultural and industrial problems, the French people were unable to find jobs; they complained to their king, Louis-Philippe, but the king did not help. The people’s discontent with their king would eventually lead to a third French Revolution and the removal of King Louis-Philippe. A stable economy was necessary for a strong